Sprinkler



April 1, 1952 l. JEPsoN SPRINKLER Filed June 19, 1948 Patented Apr. 1, 1952 SPRINKLER Ivar Jepson, Oak Park, Ill., assignmto Sunbeam Corporation, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Illinois Application June 19, 1948, Serial N 0. 34,0%

This invention relates to sprinklers particularly adapted for watering lawns and the like and more particularly to improvements in sprinklers ci this type disclosed in U. S. Patent 2,335,- 281.

An object oi the invention is to provide a sprinkler of the above character having a novel head construction which facilitates assembly of the component parts and which eliminates the need for special tools in the assembly or disassembly of the head.

Another object oi the invention is to provide a sprinkler of the above character having tubular nozzles and an improved means for adjusting the nozzles including a relatively large knob shaped to be conveniently grasped and an annular skirt portion carrying the indicia movable relative to a iixed index on the sprinkler and which when alined with the xed index indicates the area covered by the sprinkler.

.another object of the invention is to provide an improved sprinkler of the above character which is sturdy and rugged, which is simple in construction, and which is relatively inexpensive to manufacture.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which" Figure l. is a small scale side elevation view n of a sprinkler embodying' the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view through the sprinkler on a full size scale;

3 is a plan view ci the sprinkler structure shown in 2 with a cutaway portion to expose the internal parts of the sprinkler; and

Fig. 4 is a sectional View taken substantially along the line 1l-4 of Fig. 3.

The drawings show my invention as embodied in asprinkler especially designed for sprinkling lawns, but it should be understood that my inven- 'tion is capable of application in other forms. In this embodiment of the invention the sprinkler comp .ises a support including a hollow upright I I mounted on a base I2. A conventional hose connection i3 is attached to the lower end of the hollow upright Il for the purpose of connecting the sprinkler to a pressure water supply. On the upper end or the support is mounted a head ifi carrying a plurality of nozzles ES. The head Eli is mounted for rotation about a vertical axis. To this end the head is formed with a downwardly extending threaded recess I'I shaped to receive the upper end of a hollow bearing stud it. The latter is journaled in a suitable bearing 1 Claim. (Cl. 299-69) .u bushing i9 fixed in the upper end of the support. The bearing stud i8 has an enlarged lower end 2| which is shaped to be seated against a combined packing and thrust washer 22 disposed between the lower end of the bushing it yand the enlarged end 2i of the bearing stud IS.

Each nozzle It comprises an elongated tubu* lar member having a plurality of discharge orices 23 at spaced longitudinal positions thereon. The tubular members IS disposed on diametrically opposite sides of the head I4 and aro inclined at an acute angle with respect to the axis of rotation of the head. At its outer end each nozzle is closed by a screw plug Z which may be removed from the end of the tubular member to facilitate cleaning the latter. The upper end of each tubular member is received in a bearing insert 26 suitably retained as by a press lit in the head ifi. A collar 2'! is secured to the extreme upper end of each tubular member I6 and is shaped to abut against a thrust bearing washer 28 embracing the tubular member I6 and abutting against the end of the insert 2: disposed in a chamber 29 which provides communication between the hollow support i! and the inner ends of the nozzles I6.

Suitable provision is made for adjusting the angular position of the orices with respect to the longitudinal axis of the tubular member IS so as to control the area` effectively covered by the sprinkler. For this purpose the collar 2l' at the inner end of each nozzle is formed with a gear segment 3i. These segments mesh with a vertically extending pinion 32 ilxed to the lower end of a stud 33 which is mounted for rota-tive movement relative to the head it. A collar 35 secured adjacent the lower end of the stud 33 positions the pinion 52 with respect to the gear segments 3|. An indicator knob 34 suitably secured to the upper end of the stud 33 as by a splined connection and a screw it provides a manually operable means for imparting rotative movement to the stud 33 and pinion 32 and consequently imparting simultaneous rotative movement to the nozales I5. Thus, by turning the knob 34 the nozzles I6 may be adjusted to any desired position within the range of operation of the sprinkler. A spring washer 3'! interposed between tl e knob 34 and the head if?, normally holds the pinion shoulder 32 seated against a packing washer 39 thereby providing an elective water seal against leakage and keeping the parts free from unnecessary play.

One aspect of the invention is concerned with a novel construction of the indicator knob 34 and the arrangement of the indicia thereon for indicating the area covered by the sprinkler for a particular setting of the indicia. In this instance the knob 3d is formed with a relatively large central portion lil shaped to ,be readily grasped by an operator and has an annular skirt portion l? extending outwardly from the lower end of the central portion lil. Spaced' about the skirt are numbers or other suitable graduations. When one of these numbers is brought into alinement with an index mark 43, shown as an arrowhead formed on the top of the head I4, the nozzles I6 are adjusted to cover a diameter corresponding to the number opposite the index mark. The knob has limited rotative movement back and forth between the No. 5 setting and the No. 50 setting as determined by a lug M (see Fig. 2) on the underside of the knob 34 engaging a stop #l projecting upwardly from the head i4. The above knob construction may be made from synthetic resinous materials. In such case two colored materials may be employed in a conventional manner so that the numbers are of one color and the central body portion 4i and the skirt portion 42 are oi a diierent contrasting color. The yabove construction is advantageous in that the numbers may be made relatively large so that they are readily seen and they are not easily obliterated through use.

Another aspect oi my invention is concerned with a novel construction of the head lli vthat simplifies the manufacture thereof, that is relatively inexpensive to produce and that permits the ready assembly of the component parts thereof withoutthe use of special tools. To this end the head iii comprises a lower body portion 6% having the chamber 29 formed therein anda cover 49. The latter is secured to the body by spaced screws 5l extending through openings 52 in the cover 49 and received in threaded recesses 53 formed in vertical extending bosses 54. The latter are integral with the body i8 and are disposed on opposite sides of the chamber 29 between the tubular nozzles E5. To prevent leakage of liquid from the chamber 29 a gasket 56 is disposed between the cover 49 and the body 48. As shown the gasket is disposed between an annular shoulder 5l formed on the upper face of the body and a shoulder 5S on an opposed downwardly extending shoulder formed on the cover 129. The annular shoulder 5l also serves to locate the gasket 55, and the depending central portion 59 of the cover d?, defining the shoulder 5B, is shaped to project into the extreme upper end of the body i3 to aline the cover @Si on the body L18,

The above head construction is extremely simple to manufacture. Both the body d8 and the cover 39 may be readily formed as by diecasting or the like. rThis construction is also easy to assemble. For example, after the nozzles l5 are assembled in the body 48 the gasket 56 is positioned on the annular shoulder 51. Thereafter the washer 39 is disposed on the stud 33 to abut against the shoulder 38 and the upper end of the stud is projected through the opening for it in the cover 59. This subassembly is then positioned with respect to the body 48 so that the pinion 32 meshes the gear segments 3l and turning of the stud $3 simultaneously adjusts the nozzle i 5. The cover i9 is positioned to aline the openings 52 with the threaded recesses 53 .and the screws 5i are then screwed into place by a screw driver or the like. curing of the cover 59 on the body 48, the knob 3S is mounted on the upper end of the stud 33 and a screw 36 is threaded into place in the end of the stud 33 to secure the knob 34 in position. To disassemble the sprinkler the above mentioned steps are eected in a reverse order. From the foregoing it is seen that the assembly and disassembly of the head ifi of the sprinklers may be effected simply and without the use of special tools.

While I have shown one embodiment of my invention it will be understood that I do not wish to be limited thereto since many modifications may be made and I therefore contemplate by the claim to cover such modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of my invention.

I claim:

In a sprinkler the combination of a sprinkler head comprising a hollow body having a bottom wall portion and a side wall portion providing a cup shaped open top chamber, the bottom wall portion having acentral water inlet and provided with means for supporting said head to rotate about an axis coaxial with said water inlet, discharge nozzles supported on said side wall portion at opposite sides of said aXis and having nozzle adjustment means within said chamber, bosses integral with said side wall portion extending into said chamber .at points intermediate said nozzles, each boss having a threaded opening parallel with said axis, a gasket seated on the open end of said body at the outer side of said bosses, a cover seated on said gasket having screw openings in registration with said boss openings, screws passing through said cover openings and threaded into said boss openings for clamping the cover against said gasket and body, a stud mounted for rotation in the cover about an axis coaxial with the first mentioned axis and having one end projecting into the chamber for coaction with said nozzle adjustment means and its opposite end projecting beyond the cover, an indicator knob having a central hand grasp portion and an annular skirt portion extending outwardly from the base of the hand grasp portion, said screws being provided with heads bearing against the upper surface of said cover and at least one of said knob and cover being provided with a recessed portion for receiving said screw heads, and means for mounting said indicator knob on said opposite end of said stud with said skirt portion forming a shield overlying said screw heads, said skirt portion providing a relatively large top surface and having indicia circumferentially arranged thereon indicating diierent nozzle settings.

IVAR JEPSON.

pertenencias The following references are of record in the iile of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,723,014 Dahllof Aug- 6, 1929 2,335,281 Jepson Nov. 30, 1943 2,335,332 Wright Nov, 30, 1943 Subsequent to the se 

